This invention is generally directed to a system for encasing materials in plastic bags. The invention is more particularly directed toward the attachment of tags to plastic bags by a clipper. The invention will be described as used in encasing food products, such as poultry or other materials, in plastic bags, but can be used with any products, food or otherwise, that are encased in an outer wrapping, such as a bag, a net, or a flat sheet, and to which a tag is applied by a clip.
In the current art, poultry is sold to consumers as whole dressed birds or as cut-up parts on a tray. The whole bird or the tray of parts is placed in a clear plastic bag, manually or by an automated bagger apparatus, the bag is gathered to form a neck, and a clip is applied to the neck. Various types of clippers are used, including closed-mouth clippers and open-mouth clippers, in both manual systems and automated systems. Clippers are also used to make sausages, in which a pasty product is extruded into a tubular casing or a flat sheet rolled into a tube. Voiders form a neck in the extruded product and a pair of clips is applied to the neck to separate one sausage from the next.
Sellers of food products, such as poultry or sausage, want to apply some type of information to the product. This information can be a description of the product, a weight, a price, a lot number, an expiration date, the identity of the manufacturer or seller, or any other information of use to the manufacturer, seller, or consumer. One way to provide this information to is attach a tag to the bag.
A clipper as known in the art has a channel for feeding clips on sticks or reels. A automated apparatus or an operator gathers the neck of a plastic bag and orients that neck over a die. The operator or an automated tag feeder inserts a tag through a tag-loading window over the die. A punch strikes a clip, forcing the clip over the protruding tag, over the neck of the plastic bag, and onto a die, which forces the two legs of the clip to bend inward to close over the tag and the neck of the bag, sealing the contents inside the bag, and also attaching the tag to the bag. A knife then actuates to trim the excess bag material, or “tail”, on the side opposite the encased material. Sellers desire to have very little tail protruding from the clip. The excess tail clippings are waste and are disposed of by the operator of the clipper.
A tag is generally made of a flexible plastic material, heavy-stock paper, or laminated or coated paper. Sometimes a portion of a tag protrudes into the path of the knife and is severed by the knife as it cuts the tail off the bag. Accordingly, small pieces of tag material end up in and around the clipping area. Users find this debris unsightly. Extra labor must be extended to clean up this debris. Moreover, if the product is a food product, such as poultry, there are sanitary issues raised by having small bits of plastic or paper flying around the clipper.
Accordingly, there is a need for a clipper that will avoid the problems of the prior art. The present invention meets this need.